Director: WILLIAM BERKE. Screenplay: Norman Houston. Based on the 1931 novel by Zane Grey. Photography: Frank Redman. Film editor: Samuel E. Beetley. Art directors: Albert S. D'Agostino and Lucius O. Croxton. Set decorators: Darrell Silvera and William Stevens. Music director: Constantin Bakaleinikoff. Special effects: Vernon L. Walker. Music: Paul Sawtell. Assistant director: Doran Cox. Sound recording: Jean L. Speak, Roy Granville. RCA Sound System. Producer: Herman Schlom. Executive producer: Sid Rogell. Copyright 29 July 1946 by RKO-Radio Pictures, Inc. No recorded New York opening. U.S. release: 18 July 1946. Australian release: 8 August 1946. 5,495 feet. 61 minutes. SYNOPSIS: Two detectives trail train robbers. COMMENT: By the humble standards of director William Berke, this effort comes over as a truly outstanding little western. The action spots with their fast tracking shots over rough location terrain rate 100% for edge-of-the-saddle excitement and thrills. There's even a spill so expertly staged the combatants end up right in front of the camera. Warren acquits himself ably enough as the perplexed hero, but is outshone by the support cast, particularly Jane Greer as a singing dance hall girl, Robert Barrat as the vengeful rancher, Harry Woods as the deep-dyed Cinnabar and Steve Brodie as the sly Slagle. As for John Laurenz pinch-hitting in Richard Martin's customary role as Chito Rafferty, well, it's largely a matter of taste. Admittedly, I didn't like Martin at first, but you get used to him. A singing, pint-sized, more mature Chito does come as a bit of a culture shock. Norman Houston's screenplay is less leisurely, more action-packed than usual, but I'm not going to swear out any complaints.Production values, as usual for RKO westerns, are excellent.

James Warren and John Laurenz saddle up in Sunset Pass as a pair of Express company agents on the trail of some bank robbers. They get a line on one young cowboy who is the owner of a ranch in debt and falls in with outlaws led by perennial western heavy Harry Woods.Unfortunately duty is somewhat mislaid when Warren starts falling for Clarke's sister Nan Leslie. And Clarke has a brush with conscience and saves Warren's life. After that it's anyone's guess how this story will come out.Woods who usually plays thug type heavies shows a bit more intelligence than normal for him in these roles. He's a pretty shrewd villain who thinks fast on his feet. Good thing Warren keeps a cool head.Jane Greer plays a Hispanic saloon singer who Laurenz takes a shine to. I'm not sure if Greer's voice is dubbed in her two saloon numbers, but I suspect it was. She was a couple of films from her breakout role in Out Of The Past.Warren has a ballad himself. He's a singing Gary Cooper without a patch of Cooper's screen presence.And it's positively sacrilegious to have anyone else play Chity Rafferty but Richard Martin.

A young outlaw (Robert Clarke) is accused of a murder he did not commit.Now, an express company detective (James Warren), who is sent to the area to solve a bank robbery, is determined to find out the truth as payback when the outlaw saves his life.Let me say right at the top that this movie is way too short. Lasting only 64 minutes, they had to rush the story.Due to the movie's length, there was no chance for the story to develop as it should have. There was also many problems with the plot and various subplots.The main plot does not show until the last part of the movie. We do see some development on the romantic level, as well as relationships between the main characters.There were some impressive performances in this film. Warren was fantastic in one of the main leads. I also enjoyed Nan Leslie in the leading actress role.As for the supporting cast, there were some good performances, and some bad. Only a small group of the supporting cast appeared to have just stood there as they said their lines, and were unbelievable.Character development is completely horrible in this movie. The characters' individual stories were completely rushed, and I found it confusing trying to remember who was who, and how they were related to each other.I was also not impressed with the soundtrack in this movie. You have two on-screen performances of a couple of short, boring songs. You also have some music during some horse chase scenes. Every piece of music is completely forgettable. In fact, even the two performances is as well. The songs which are performed on screen are slow, and the singer is completely boring.As for action, there is only one real good gun fight at the climax of the movie. It too felt rushed though. You get some other gun battles, but they are tame in comparison to the one near the end of the movie.The gun battles are not violent, due to the movie being produced in 1946. You don't get any blood at all to show gunshot wounds. All you get are the actors grabbing where they were hit after falling to the ground. In comparison to today's movies, the violence is extremely tame in this movie.If you like Westerns, or Zane Grey, who wrote the novel this movie is based on, then I suggest you check this out. However, thanks to the length of this film, it's not the best. For the rest of you, this one is one you can skip.I can only suggest this to the audience not into Westers only for the pretty strong performances from the main cast.

This Post-WWII western features the pairing of Big Jim Warren and John Laurenz as his comical sidekick, Chito. They have money stolen from them, and proceed to recover it. Action, comedy and mystery are all combined here for a satisfying oater.Warren was a great lead, starring in this and several other Zane Grey screen adaptations. The character of Chito was later immortalized by Richard Martin in a number of Tim Holt films. The portrayal here is slightly different, but still enjoyable. A number of familiar faces turn up here, including the great Harry Harvey.This ain't Shakespeare, but it's still pretty entertaining.Enjoy !